A cellular telephone system serves a defined area by dividing the area into cells. Each cell is served by a single base station, or cell site, and each cell site is connected to a base station controller ("BSC"), which is connected to a message switching center ("MSC"), which is connected to the public switched telephone network ("PSTN"). A mobile unit is connected, or a call is completed, to the PSTN by establishing a radio frequency ("RF") link with a nearby cell site.
The situation in which a mobile unit ends communication with a first cell site and begins communication with a second cell site is referred to as a handoff. A hard handoff occurs when a first RF link between the mobile unit and the first cell site is ended, or dropped, before a second RF link between the mobile unit and the second cell site is established. Alternatively, a soft handoff occurs when the second RF link to the mobile unit is established before the first RF link is dropped. In soft handoff the first cell site is considered the dominant cell while the second cell site is considered a secondary cell. A mobile unit may concurrently enter soft handoff with several different secondary cells.
Soft handoffs typically occur when both cell sites operate on a common radio frequency, such as in a code division multiple access ("CDMA") cellular network. Typically, each cell site operating on the common radio frequency emits a pilot signal. When a mobile unit detects that the strength of a cell site's pilot signal exceeds a certain minimum threshold, it reports a pilot strength measurement ("PSM") message to the BSC via the dominant cell site. Each cell has its own list of potential handoff candidates, or neighbor list, and if the cell site, or pilot, associated with the pilot signal is in the neighbor list for the dominant cell, then the BSC informs the mobile unit to add the pilot to the mobile unit's Active Set. An Active Set is a list of secondary cells currently in soft handoff, or Active Set Pilots, maintained by the mobile unit. As a result, the BSC can thereby select the appropriate secondary cells for the mobile unit to enter soft handoff.
A detailed description of soft handoff parameters, terms, and procedures is disclosed in "Mobile Station-Base Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wide Band Spread Spectrum Cellular System" TIA/EIA/IS-95-A Standard, Mar. 15, 1995, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Under this procedure, however, the mobile unit may enter into soft handoff with undesired secondary cells. For example, although the pilot signal from the secondary cell exceeds the minimum threshold, the secondary cell site may be in a location that will improperly service the mobile unit due to other factors or obstructions not yet detected by the mobile unit, which could result in a dropped call. In addition, many pilot signals may exceed the minimum threshold such that soft handoff occurs with each associated secondary cell, requiring an extensive load on the BSC which could result in lost call capacity. Also, since each cell site has a finite number of channel elements with which to link to a mobile unit, each channel element unnecessarily used for soft handoff is thereby unavailable for other calls.